Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in February that some 50,000 corruption cases are currently being investigated in Russia.

In the latest series of corruption exposés, companies controlled by the Russian Defense Ministry are being probed on fraud charges that total over 13 billion rubles ($433 million). The so-called Oboronservis case led to the sacking of Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov last November.

According to Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika, damages from corruption cost the state budget 21 billion rubles ($690 million) last year alone.

In 2012, Russian authorities prosecuted 889 officials, including 244 city mayors and 114 lawmakers of various levels, and 1,159 law enforcement officials on corruption charges.